About ____
Helping to solve some of the globe’s greatest environmental challenges.
The International Sustainable Forestry Coalition (ISFC) brings together a group of the world’s leading forestry companies to work collectively to help solve some of the globe’s greatest environmental challenges.
With a global population of almost 8 billion people and a Gross World Product nearing $100 trillion [1], forests and all natural ecosystems are under pressure.
Deforestation to provide land for agriculture, physical impacts from climate change, disputes over land use and land rights, loss of species and degradation of freshwater quality and flows, are all becoming widespread problems. The global sustainable forestry sector wants to be a larger part of the solution to these problems.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/268750/global-gross-domestic-product-gdp/
The ISFC vision __________
To see forests and forestry become central to the global transition to a sustainable and growing circular bioeconomy.
The ISFC mission __________
The ISFC exists to help society build a nature positive bioeconomy by making the best possible use of forests and forest products.
Governance __________
The ISFC is a Company limited by guarantee (not for profit) registered in the United Kingdom. Each member company has the right to nominate one individual to become a Director of the ISFC.
The current Office Holders are:
CHAIR
Dr. David Brand
Executive Chair, New Forests
Dr. David Brand has more than 40 years’ experience in forestry investment, forest management, science, and public policy. Dr. Brand founded New Forests in 2005 and is currently Chair of New Forests’ Board of Directors and the Chair of the company’s Investment Committee.
Previously, Dr. Brand has held a variety of senior leadership roles at Hancock Natural Resources Group, the State Forests of NSW and the Canadian Forest Service.
Dr. Brand serves on the Advisory Board of The World BioEconomy Forum, the Board of Directors of the Washington DC based non-governmental organization, Forest Trends, the Board of Trustees of Bangkok-based Intergovernmental Organization, The Centre for People and Forests, and is Chair of wood processing business, Timberlink Australia.
Dr. Brand has been awarded a PhD from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the University of Toronto in Canada.
VICE-CHAIR
Mr Doug Long
EVP & Chief Resource Officer, Rayonier
Doug Long is the Executive Vice President and Chief Resource Officer of Rayonier. He leads Rayonier’s global forestry and export operations, safety, sustainability and nature-based solutions programs.
Mr Long is a Certified Forester® with Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Forest Resources and Conservation from the University of Florida.
He has served in leadership positions and on the boards of national forestry organizations and universities during his 25+ year forestry career.
TREASURER
Mr John Kornerup Bang
Senior Vice President, Sustainability Transformation, Stora Enso
John Kornerup Bang is responsible for driving leadership and growth as Stora Enso aims at co-shaping a future regenerative bioeconomy.
Mr Kornerup Bang has 25 years of experience working on the enabling the green transition of hard to abate sectors and ensuring that natural capital and environmental services are valued in the economy. He was the main architect behind Mærsks net zero strategy and a leading actor in the development of a range of stnadards related to land use from a WWF base.
Mr Kornerup Bang has worked intensively of global policy making especially in relation to WTO and UNFCCC. He has served in a number of fiduciary roles related to sustainable development, notably as Board Member in Fair Trade Denmark, Board Member and Founder of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, and as advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s High Level Advisory Group on sustainable transportation.
DIRECTOR
Mr. Hiroyuki Isono
President & Group CEO, Oji Holdings Corporation
Mr. Hiroyuki Isono is the President & Group CEO of Oji Holdings Corporation. He has vast experience in overseas business development and contributed a lot to Oji’s expansion especially in South East Asia, Oceania and Europe.
Mr. Isono was appointed as President & Group CEO in 2022 and described company’s purpose “Grow and manage the sustainable forest, develop and deliver the products from renewable forest, and Oji will bring this world a brighter future filled with hope”.
Mr. Isono believes that sustainable forestry can activate various forest ecosystem service such as water resource conservation, wood production, global warming mitigation, and biodiversity conservation which are economically and socially very important.
DIRECTOR
Olly Hughes
Managing Director, Forestry, Gresham House Asset Management
Olly Hughes has been Managing Director and an Investment Committee member of our Forestry division since January 2019. He is responsible for managing the growth and development of Gresham House’s forestry activities including acquisitions, fund and private client management and forestry asset management.
Prior to joining Gresham House, Olly was a Partner and Head of Infrastructure at Oxford Capital for six years where he built and managed a portfolio of over £300mn of solar and wind renewable energy assets. He started his career at ING Barings in 1995 focusing on asset backed structuring and since then has focused his career on real asset investment and asset management.
Olly has over 25 years of investment experience and holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s degree from the University of Oxford in Biological Science. He also obtained the Investment Management Certificate from the CFA Society in the UK.
ISFC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mr Ross Hampton
A journalist by training, Mr. Hampton has been working in public policy for more than two decades specialising in understanding and influencing the complex social, political and economic dynamics which determine outcomes in areas such as sustainable resource management, environmental protection, the circular bioeconomy, nature-based solutions, climate change and sustainable forest management.
Mr. Hampton has a Master’s Degree in Public Policy (Environmental Policy) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Curtin University, Western Australia and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
